“Don’t Hurt Yourself”, and other goals for the Dodger Blogger Softball Tournament

For the past three years, TheLFP.com ‘s Mike Brown has put on the Dodger Blogger Softball Tournament.

Fansmanship.com participated in the first one a few years back and it was a blast. With two new babies in the leadership family here at Fansmanship.com, we took last year off, but we’re really looking forward to the tournament this Saturday.

Here are a few things I hope will happen:

Be better about meeting people

We drove from SLO and were a little shell shocked at the size of the whole thing last time. I’m really hoping to meet some of the other writers and twitter follows from various blogs.

I think I was a little more reserved last time. This time, I’m going to make a point to introduce myself to some fellow Dodger fans and writers.

Figure out how to take more of my own photos

The difference between two years ago and now is that I have some awesome photography equipment and some added skill I hope to put to use. Whether and how I can both play and take photos is a challenge I’m going to have to figure out.

Not get hurt

This one goes without saying, right? I’m almost 34. Sliding, diving, touching the playing surface in any kind of extraordinary way — that’s a younger man’s game.

Not embarrass myself

Though, really, hasn’t that ship already sailed many times over?

Find one more good twitter follow

Honestly I think who I follow on Twitter is pretty goddamn entertaining during an important Dodgers game. If I’m missing someone, please let me know. If I can get one or two more good follows, that would be pretty great.

Welcome some players onto our team

We had about 5 people drop-out at the last minute. The commitment of the drive from and back to San Luis Obispo really did us in this year. Mike looks like he’ll be remedying the situation, but I want to really be welcoming to those playing on the (soon to be) championship Fansmanship.com team.

Have the fun

The fun can be had many ways, and it isn’t always hitting a home run (though I’m hoping for one or two of those, too). Really, for me, the best part will be having a great time with some old and hopefully new friends along the way. If you don’t know me, please say, “hi.” It’s the people that will make the 450-miles-in-one-day round trip worth it.

Enjoy the current state of the team.

The last one of these I went to, Dodger fans were all making noise about ownership. It was a mystery who the next owner would be. We are now in a post-McCourt era. That, alone, is worth celebrating. Our collective expectations and outright enthusiasm can once again go untempered. To share that with a few hundred other people dressed in blue in a place that isn’t even Dodger Stadium is not an opportunity to be missed.